Abstract

This work discusses the growth of a 'Galtonian tradition' in Science,
notably as developed by Karl Pearson and his colleagues. It traces
the development from Galton's ideas,in Britain, of the disciplines of
Statistics,Biometrical Genetics and the Psychology of individual
differences. These developments were linked with a number of philosophical
and ideological commitments on the parts of the scientists
concerned, and the work examines the interplay between these
commitments and the theorising of the scientists.It looks also at
the relations that may have held between these commitments and the
social milieux of the scientists. Particular attention is given
to the role of the strong and influential Eugenics movement which
flourished in Britain at the time of these developments.

Type:

Thesis (Doctoral)

Title:

Karl Pearson and the Galtonian Tradition: Studies in the Rise of Quantitative Social Biology.

Open access status:

An open access version is available from UCL Discovery

Language:

English

Additional information:

Thesis digitised by British Library EThOS. Some images have been excluded due to third party copyright.